Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-01-08

are home-raised. We have redur, d
the commercial rate of interest from
"a to per cent. and are floating 4 per
cent. bonds. We have learned that
one northern immigrant is worth
fifty foreigners, and have smothed
the path to the southwark, wiped out
the place where Mason and Dixon's
line used to be, and hung the latch
string out to you and yours. Pro-
longed applause.] We have reached
the point that marksperfect harmony
in every household, when the hus-
band confesses that the pies which
his own wife cooks are as good as
those his mother used to bake; and
we admit that the sun shines as
brightly and the moon as softly as it
did "bef0re the war;" Laugter.[
We have established thrift in city and
country. We have fallen in love with
work. We have restored comfort to
homes from which culture and ele-
gance never departed. We have let
economy take root and spread
among us as rank as the crab-grass
which sprung from Sherman'scavalry
camp, until we are ready to lay odds
on the Georgia yankee as he squeezes
pure olive oil out of his cotton seed,
against any downeaster that snapped
wooden nutmegs for flannel sausages
in the valleys of Vermont. Above
all, we know that we have achieved
in these piping times of peace" a
fuller independencefor the south than
that which our fathers sought to
win in theforum by their eloquence or
compel on the field by their swords.
Loud applause
1t is rare privilege, sir, to have
had part, however humble, in this
work. Never was nobler duty confd
ed human hands than the uplifting
and upbuilding of the PROSTATE and
bleeding south, misguided, perhaps,
and beautiful in her suffering and
honest, brave, generous always. APP
plause. In the record of her social,
industrial and political restoration,
we await with confidence the verdict
of the world.
But what of the negro? Have we
solved the problem he presents or
progressed in honor and equity to-
ward its solution? Let the record
speak to this point. No section shows
a more prosperous laboring popula-
ton than the negroes of the south,
none of fuller sympathy with the en-
ploying and land-owning class. He
shares our school fund, has the fullest
protection of our laws, and the friend
ship of our people. Self.
interest as well as honor
demand that he should have this.
Our future, our very existence, de.
ponds upon our working out this pro.
blem in full and exact justice. We
understand that when President Lin.
coin signed the emancipation proc.
lamation, your victory was assured,
for he then committed you to the
cause of human liberty, against which
the arms of man cannot prevail zap.
piause]: while those OF our statesmen
who made slavery the cornerstone o.
the confederacy doomed us to defeat
committing us to cause that reason
could not defend or the sword main.
tain in the light of advancing civil
zation. Renewed applause. Had
Mr.. Toombs said, which he did MOI
say, that he would call the roll of his
slaves at the foot of Bunker Hill, hi
would have been foolish, for he might
have known that whenever slavery
became entangled in war it mus
perish, and that the chattel in human
flesh ended forever in New England
when your fathers-not to be blamed
for parting what didn't pay--soIc
their slaves to our fathers-not to bC
praised for knowing a paying thing
when they saw it. Laughter. Thu
relations of the southern people will
the negro are close and cordial. W.
remember with what fidelity for fou
years he guarded our defenseless we
men and children, whose husbands
and fathers were fighting against hi
freedom. To his eternal credit be i
said that whenever he struck a blow
for his own liberty he fought in opeI
battle, and when at last he raised hi
black and humble hands that thu
shackless might be struck off, thost
hands were Innocent of wrong agains
his helpless charges; and worthy to b,
taken in loving grasp by every MAJ
who honors loyalty and devotion
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